Petrol in one part of NSW is being sold for as low as 39 cents a litre, as a local price war heats up.
In Crookwell, a small town in the NSW Southern Tablelands, the price of fuel dropped dramatically at the local Metro Zone on Friday.
In a matter of hours, E10 fuel went from $1.02 per litre to 39 cents per litre – the cheapest in the country.
“Bit of competition, bit of war,” Crookwell Metro Zone owner Norm Dib told 7NEWS.com.au.
“Metro is always aggressive, we’re the strongest independent in NSW so we’re just trying to live up to our name.
“We’re losing money but we’re just sticking to our guns.”
Dib added people have travelled far to fill up on the cheap fuel.
“We always love to be the cheapest and it’s more a personal thing to be cheapest in town,” he said.
“The last time it was 39 cents I was probably three years old at dad’s service station. I’m 37 now.
“People have been driving an hour to get there because it’s 60 to 70 cents cheaper than everywhere else.”
Cheap fuel but pockets empty
But Dib said he hopes the local petrol war won’t last too long because it’s leaving his pockets empty.
“It’s tough times at the moment but it’s nice to put a smile on people’s faces, especially in the country,” he said.
Rival station Mobil Crookwell, which dropped its E10 down to 49.9 cents a litre on Friday, said the competition between the two stations was “ridiculous”.
“It’s called losing… massively losing money,” owner Marcel said.
“The only motive we have is to keep our existing customer base.”
Marcel agreed the price war would not be sustainable.
“I don’t know how long I can keep it that cheap, maybe a few days,” he said.
“We’re losing a lot of money.
“I came into the industry 35 years ago, and this is as cheap as I remember it was 35 years ago.”
Extracted from 7News